The invention relates generally to welding systems, and, more particularly, to a tongue and groove feature for maintaining alignment of drive wheels in a welding wire feeder.
Welding is a process that has increasingly become ubiquitous in various industries and applications. While such processes may be automated in certain contexts, a large number of applications continue to exist for manual welding operations. Such welding operations rely on a variety of types of equipment to ensure the supply of welding consumables (e.g., wire feed, shielding gas, etc.) is provided to the weld in an appropriate amount at a desired time. For example, metal inert gas (MIG) welding typically relies on a wire feeder to ensure a proper wire feed reaches a welding torch.
Such wire feeders facilitate the feeding of welding wire from a wire spool, through a pair of drive wheels, to the welding torch at a desired wire feed rate. The mechanical components of the wire feeder are generally aligned in order to maintain proper alignment of the welding wire feeding between the drive wheels. However, forces applied by a welding operator to certain wire feeder components occasionally lead to misalignment of the components and, consequently, the welding wire.